Children of the Machine

Minion of Deadly Touch

Description:

Artifact: 3
Attune: To activate this being, the owner must touch it with a drop of her blood and commit five mote of Essence.

If the owner desires, he can order the creature to take on the form of any human. The owner can either describe how he wishes the creature to look or show it a painting or other image and describe the portions of the body that the painting does not display. The creature cannot duplicate the shape of beastmen or Wyld mutants, but it can assume the form of any mortal from one of the diminutive Djala people to the tall, inhuman-looking Lintha pirates. If the owner obtains a sample of blood no more than one week old and orders the creation to ingest it, this being can immediately and perfectly assume the form of the person from whom the blood came. Once the creature has been fully instructed about the form it will take, it requires only 30 seconds to change from one form to another. These beings can duplicate the form of all varieties of Exalted, but they possess no Charms or any of their other powers. The owner can teach this being up to a dozen forms and can give it orders as to what circumstances should compel it to shift forms. Once it has learned a dozen forms, it must forget one of its forms to learn a new one.

Because of their unnatural metabolism, these creations are immune to aging, disease and infection, and they stop bleeding as swiftly as one of the Exalted. In addition, these inhuman creations heal one health level of bashing damage every minute and one health level of lethal damage every hour. They can also soak lethal damage as well as bashing damage. If they need to do so to maintain their cover, however, they can appear to heal no faster than a mortal. In addition, these beings can appear to be convincingly dead and can cease breathing for up to an hour.

An owner can use this being as an ideal servant or concubine, since all examples were created with a wide range of skills that make them excellent choices for such roles. Their primary purposes were infiltration and, particularly, assassination, though. As such, these creatures are walking factories of exceptionally deadly toxins. At their owner’s command, their blood, sweat, tears and any other bodily fluids can instantly become exceptionally deadly poisons. The other unnatural ability possessed by these creatures is that all Charms designed to detect lies automatically fail on them. These creations lie effortlessly and display none of the tells mortals and Exalts exhibit when telling lies.

A minion’s owner can ask it to infiltrate the household of an enemy, to pretend to be completely loyal and madly in love with the enemy and then to poison that enemy. This creature can also be instructed to sneak into an enemy’s home and either spy on her or steal a particular object. Because the creature can shift form with great speed, it can often avoid capture by shapeshifting after performing an assassination. Although it does better if its owner provides detailed instructions, so long as it knows its owner’s wishes, it can also come up with reasonable-sounding stories to explain its presence at the scene of a murder.

This minion has been custom built to protect it’s owner. It coordinates attacks through a psychic link, making it move as if it was one with it’s owner, never botching or getting in her way. It also protects her from the greatest dangers with it’s life if need be.